RC5: Dependencies everywhere!

[Rodolfo J. Paiz]

On Sun, 2004-10-31 at 00:19 -0400, Robert L Cochran wrote:
> I know the frustration and the feeling! [...] With some 
> packages a little more thought needs to go into 
> deciding what the dependencies really ought to be.
> 

I have to agree. In this case, I'm using the minimal install as a
starting point to create a *really* small install. After all, the FC3
"minimal" install includes NIS, NFS, Bluetooth, Infrared, Dial-up
networking, ISDN, spell-checkers, tape management packages (!?) and lots
of other sometimes-useful but entirely removable cruft. I have four
objectives for this minimal install of mine:

	1. Post it as a HOWTO on setting up the basics of a server [1], such
that you can use it as a good and reasonably-secure base, then proceed
from there to adding SMTP, POP/IMAP, HTTP/S, NTP, DNS, DHCP, or whatever
server processes you actually need to run. Hopefully this will make a
very tiny dent in the number of Linux servers that get cracked, and it
will make some people's lives easier.

	2. I am currently rescuing/recycling nearly 50 computers for an
orphanage, and all of them are Pentium Classic boxen with either 32MB or
64MB of RAM and usually 1GB of hard drive space. So a GUI install of FC3
with XFCE plus a swap partition must fit into no more than 1GB total.

	3. I provide the hosting resources for the RULE project [2], which has
already helped people in Europe, Africa, and Latin America
rescue/recycle several hundred computers for use in schools and other
organizations by trimming down Red Hat Linux 9, and now they are working
to move their efforts to FC3. They have the same maximum of 1GB of disk
space in many machines (note that they've installed RHL-9 into 486/25
boxen with 8MB of RAM... smile).

	4. I want to contribute back to Fedora such that the "minimal" install
actually approaches congruency between its name and its reality. I am
consistently able to remove at least 150MB of disk requirements from the
minimal install (FC1-3), and I could easily hit 200MB with a little
cooperation from Anaconda like installing the minimal packages without
their documentation. So this is something like a 30% savings.

Given all of these, 40MB of stuff stuck behind a *touchpad* is really
driving me insane tonight. I know I could always just --nodep it, and I
could also simply wipe up2date and yum off the map, but for me a
"minimal" install is one that does not lose the basic character of the
operating system... and an automated package manager like up2date or yum
is, IMHO, a key part of the Fedora experience. Certainly it *can* be
removed, but I'm not going to advocate removing it *by default*.

Bloody touchpad.

Anyway, just had to vent. Must get some sleep. Cheers,

-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz <rpaiz at simpaticus.com>
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